By Boyd Webb
Born four months premature after his mother allegedly tried to abort him and then had him dumped, he still survived.
With all the odds stacked against him, he clung desperately to life.
The newborn baby was rushed to Pretoria Academic Hospital after he had been left for dead in the back of a car, allegedly by a woman employed at a local surgery.
| 'The man from the panelbeating shop dumped the bag on the ground in front of us' |
"I thought he was dead," said Inspector Riaan Klopper of Pretoria Central police station, "but then he wriggled."
The baby, weighing 1,1kg, is in a critical but stable condition at the neonatal unit of Pretoria Academic Hospital.
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Sister Magdelene Kekana said on Sunday the infant would remain with them until he reached 1,8kg, after which his fate would be in the hands of social workers.
An employee of a panelbeating shop next to the surgery in Marabastad saw an unknown woman leave a bag on the back seat of one of the cars in the yard just after 8am on Saturday.
The woman's action raised his suspicions, and he went to investigate. Then he called the police.
| 'If the baby dies, they will face murder charges' |
Klopper said the baby had been wrapped in newspaper and placed in a black plastic bag.
"When we arrived, the man from the panelbeating shop dumped the bag on the ground in front of us. It was only after I had stared at the bloody sight in disbelief for a few moments that I saw the child move," he stated.
Police Captain Piletji Sebola said further questioning revealed that a 34-year-old mother from Kanana village in Hammanskraal had apparently approached a 40-year-old woman working at the surgery on Friday, wanting an abortion.
"The baby was aborted on Saturday morning."
Doctors at Pretoria Academic Hospital believe the mother was given something to drink and that it induced the birth.
"The mother and the woman allegedly responsible for the attempted abortion were arrested and charged with attempted murder.
"If the baby dies, they will face murder charges," Sebola said.
The two women were expected to appear in the Pretoria magistrate's court on Monday.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on March 10, 2003
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